17 Secrets To Building Danny Meyer's Restaurant Empire

Since opening in 2004, Shake Shack has become a phenomenon: people will wait in lines for hours for a burger made with the chain's special "shack sauce."

It was a brilliant concept devised by New York City restaurateur Danny Meyer, whose Union Square Hospitality Group also includes a host of other restaurants -- Gramercy Tavern, Eleven Madison Park and Blue Smoke, among others -- employing more than 2,000.

Of the 25 restaurants Meyer has opened, only one has closed -- a stunning track record given that 80% of New York City restaurants fail.

From a detailed profile by the New York Times and an exclusive interview with Business Insider, we've compiled the 17 ways Meyer has become New York's most successful restaurateur.

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He's self aware -- and aware of what it takes to make it in the business

He scouts out the perfect location for each restaurant

The majority of his 13 Shake Shacks are in parks and other high-traffic pedestrian areas he refers to as "Shackness."

"We want to find a community that feels just right for it," Meyer told CNBC.

In the fall of 2011, Union Square Hospitality Group will move to lower Manhattan's Battery Park City -- an upper middle class neighborhood with a median household income of $107,406 -- and Shake Shack, Blue Smoke and another fine-dining establishment will occupy the Embassy Suites Hotel, which will be renovated and reopened as Conrad Hotel.

He's innovative and tech savvy

Meyer has installed live web cams at Shake Shack locations so customers can estimate their wait time. Eventually, he wants to create an app so people can check out the lines no matter where they are.

Meyer also uses Twitter to promote deals and free meals.

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He's open to advice and new opportunities

Facebook

In 1998, an NYU business student told Meyer she wanted to write a dissertation about his restaurants, reports the Times. "Five years later, she informed Meyer that his company was too dependent on him."

A decade later, he was approached by the international franchiser, Alshaya. After visiting Dubai, Meyer decided to "get a master's degree in replication," he told Business Insider, "but so far away that our audience wouldn't watch us doing it, and at the same time give us a chance to grow."

This year, he opened his first international Shake Shack at the Mall of the Emirates; the second is in Kuwait City.

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He's a pro at multitasking, and moves quickly

"[He] hopped out and skirted the park, still talking into his phone while pointing out the first flowers of spring (yellow), crossed the avenue and stepped through the revolving doors of Eleven Madison Park."

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He's not afraid to make tough decisions

After a 12-year run, Meyer decided to close Tabla, a large Indian-themed restaurant. He said it was an "excruciatingly hard" choice: "I was ultimately convinced by my partners that -- counterintuitively -- the cruelest thing we could do for people's careers was to keep it going."

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He has the perfect handshake

"He stood up from behind a desk, backed by a wall of books (sample title: "The Power of Nice"), took my hand and applied the ideal amount of pressure for the ideal amount of time: a better handshake than any I could recall."

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He knows the balance between refined and accessible

With little tweaks, he makes his refined concepts a little more accessible and accessible concepts -- like burgers -- a little more refined for consumers.

Unlike other high-end burger chains (whose meat typically comes from processing plants), Shake Shack's burgers come from a third-generation butcher who blends a sirloin, chunk and brisket specially designed by a former general manager at Wolfgang Puck's Postrio in San Francisco.

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He's extremely selective about everyone he hires, and recruits the best chefs in the business

"The vast majority of Shake Shack's management 'began their careers with us in our fine-dining restaurants,'" Meyer told the Times.

Others come from high-end restaurants around the world. He recruited Daniel Humm -- a Swiss chef who earned a Michelin Star by age 25 -- from San Francisco's Campton Place to become Eleven Madison Park's executive chef.

He has charisma and style

"At the Modern, Meyer pulled a silk tie out of his jacket pocket, knotted it on and made for a grand cru Chablis tasting in the private dining room. He approached a young man in a thick-napped brown suit: Romain Collet, of the Jean Collet wine dynasty. Meyer introduced himself, in French, and began detailing the long relationship between his restaurants and the family's vineyard."

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Did you know that 80% of New York City restaurants fail in five years?